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CBS3 sued for false child sex-abuse report

The station and anchorman Chris May are named as defendants in suit filed by former school cop wrongly reported to have been fired over abuse rap

THE HONCHOS at CBS3 might want to get their checkbook out.

It seems that back on Sept. 29, station anchorman Chris May looked into the teleprompter and reported that a school police supervisor at a city charter school was fired over allegations that he sexually abused a boy.

"Howard Rubin is the suspect," May intoned, as Rubin's picture flashed on the screen. "He is accused in the sexual abuse of an underage male student."

Now, here's why CBS3's story may cost the station big bucks in a lawsuit filed Friday: Rubin not only was not fired, but he also has not been accused of, nor arrested for, sexually abusing anyone.

"It appears to me that this was a really big mistake on their part and there will be really big consequences," said lawyer Derek Steenson, who filed the lawsuit on Rubin's behalf in Common Pleas Court.

The suit seeking more than the standard $50,000 in damages accuses the station, KYW-TV, of defamation, malice and invasion of privacy.

Since the story aired, Steenson said, someone has thrown a rock at Rubin's car, while a number of people from his Northeast neighborhood have asked him about the news report - and not in a nice way.

"They have a duty to check their facts," Steenson said of the station.

Rubin had been employed at the Multi-Cultural Academy Charter School in North Philadelphia, where his contract was not renewed for the 2014-15 school year.

In a letter sent to parents a day after the news report, principal James Higgins slammed the report and said Rubin's departure had nothing to do with misconduct.

"Unfortunately, at least one news agency failed to even contact the school or the police before irresponsibly broadcasting this false story, which we have learned was reported to the news agency by an adversary of Howard Rubin's," Higgins wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Daily News.

CBS3, on Sept. 30, aired a correction and apology on its 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts, and sent a letter to Higgins.

The station still has not apologized to Rubin, Steenson said.

A CBS3 spokeswoman said the station had not seen a copy of the complaint and therefore would not comment.